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Nine Lessons and Carols: Difference between revisions

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Nine Lessons and Carols
A service of Nine Lessons in 2010 at St. George's School, Newport, Rhode Island, US
Genre	Religious service/Anglican church music
Venue	Christian churches worldwide, notably King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Inaugurated	24 December 1880 (1880-12-24)
Founder	Edward White Benson

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a service of Christian worship, traditionally celebrated on Christmas Eve. The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings or lessons from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels, interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir anthems.

ches. However, numerous Christian denominations have adopted this service, or a variation on this service, as part of their Christmas celebrations. In the UK, the service has become the standard format for school carol services.

In 1916, a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols was held at Brown UniversityinProvidence, Rhode Island; the institution celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Lessons and Carols in 2016.^[1]

Notably in 1918, Rev. Eric Milner-White the new Dean of King's College, Cambridge, introduced the service to the college chapel, taking advantage of the established choral tradition of the King's College Chapel Choir. It proved highly successful, and began an annual tradition — albeit with some alterations to Benson's original format from 1919 onwards. The BBC began to broadcast the service on radio from 1928 and on television 1954, establishing Carols from King's as the most popular and widely recognised presentation of the service.^[2][3]

In the United States, the Lessons and Carols tradition spread to other US institutions. In 1928, organist and choirmaster Twining Lynes, introduced the service to Groton SchoolinGroton, Massachusetts after being inspired by services in England.^[4]

In December 2013 Truro Cathedral staged a reconstruction of Bishop Benson's original 1880 Nine Lessons with Carols Service which was attended by an audience of over 1,500 people.^[5]

Service at King's College, Cambridge

The first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, was held on Christmas Eve in 1918. During World War I the Dean, Eric Milner-White had served as army chaplain in the 7th Infantry Division, and he was concerned that the distress of the "Great War" had hardened attitudes against religion. Taking advantage of the established choral tradition of the King's College Chapel Choir, he introduced Benson's carol service to King's as a means of attracting people back to Christian worship. The first Nine Lessons service in King's College Chapel was held on Christmas Eve, 1918, directed by Arthur Henry Mann, who was the organist from 1876 to 1929.^[6]

The King's College service was immensely successful, and the following year, Milner-White made some changes to Benson's original format, notably introducing the tradition of opening the service with a solo treble singing ""Once in Royal David's City". This was then followed by a Bidding Prayer penned by Milner-White himself, and re-ordering the lessons.^[2][7][3] The choir had 16 trebles as specified in statutes laid down by Henry VI, and until 1927 the men's voices were provided by choral scholars and lay clerks. Today, 14 undergraduates from the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, sing the men's parts.^[6]

The popularity of the service was established when the service began to be broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1928, and, except for 1930, has been broadcast every year since. During the 1930s the service reached a worldwide audience when the BBC began broadcasting the service on its Overseas Service. Even throughout the Second World War, despite the stained glass having been removed from the Chapel and the lack of heating, the broadcasts continued. For security reasons, the name "King's" was not mentioned during wartime broadcasts.^[6]

Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College was first televised by BBC Television in 1954, conducted by the Director of Music Boris Ord, and has since become the most popular and widely recognised presentation of the service.^[8][9]

Since the Second World War, it has been estimated that each year there are millions of listeners worldwide who listen to the service live on the BBC World Service. Domestically, the service is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4, and a recorded broadcast is made on Christmas Day on BBC Radio 3.^[6] In the US, a 1954 service was put into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2008.^[10] The broadcast has been heard live on public radio stations affiliated with American Public Media since 1979, and most stations broadcast a repeat on Christmas Day. Since 1963, the service has been periodically filmed for television broadcast in the UK.^[11] Presently, each year a programme entitled Carols from King's is pre-recorded in early or mid-December then shown on Christmas Eve in the UK on BBC Two and BBC Four. The programme is weighted more heavily in favour of carols sung by the choir, with only seven readings in total, not all of which are from the Bible.

Order of service

The format of the first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols did not differ substantially from the one known at King's College, Cambridge today. The order of the lessons was revised in 1919, and since that time the service has always begun with the hymn "Once in Royal David's City".^[6] Today the first verse is sung unaccompanied by a solo boy chorister. To avoid putting him under undue stress, the chorister is not told that he will be singing the solo until immediately before the service is to begin.^[12]

The Nine Lessons, which are the same every year, are read by representatives of the college and of the City of Cambridge from the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Bible. The singing is divided into "carols" which are sung by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and "hymns" sung by the Choir and congregation. Some services have also included anthems between the carols and hymns, such as a performance of "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come" in 2004.^[13] Since 1982 the current Director of Music, Stephen Cleobury, has commissioned a new carol each year on behalf of the College for the Choir. The carols vary from year to year, although some music is repeated. The service ends with the hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". The following is from the service in 2008.^[14]

• Organ Preludes

• Processional Hymn: "Once in Royal David's City" – words by Cecil Frances Alexander; melody by Henry Gauntlett; harmonised by Henry Gauntlett and A. H. Mann; descantbyStephen Cleobury.

• Bidding Prayer

• Carol: "If Ye would Hear the Angels Sing" – words by D. Greenwell; music by P. Tranchell

• First Lesson from Genesis 3: 8–19 (read by a chorister)

• Carol: "Remember, O Thou Man" – words, 16th century; music by Thomas Ravenscroft
• Carol: "Adam lay ybounden" – words, 15th century; music by Boris Ord

• Second Lesson from Genesis 22: 15–18 (read by a choral scholar)

• Carol: "Angels from the Realms of Glory" – words by James Montgomery; music, old French tune arranged by Philip S. Ledger
• Carol: "In Dulci Jubilo" – words, 14th-century German; music by Hieronymus Praetorius

• Third Lesson from Isaiah 9: 2; 6–7 (read by a representative of Cambridge churches)

• Carol: "Nowell Sing We Now All and Some" – words and music medieval, edited by John Stevens
• Hymn: "Unto Us is Born a Son" – words, 15th-century Latin, translated by G.R. Woodward; music from Piae Cantiones arranged by David V. Willcocks

• Fourth Lesson from Isaiah 11: 1–3a; 4a; 6–9 (read by a representative of the City of Cambridge)

• Carol: "The Lamb" – words by William Blake; music by John Tavener
• Carol: "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" – words, 15th-century German, translated by C. Winkworth; music by Philip S. Ledger

• Fifth Lesson from the Gospel of Luke 1: 26–35; 38 (read by a representative of King's College's sister college at Eton)

• Carol: "I Sing of a Maiden" – words, 15th century; music by Lennox Berkeley
• Carol: "The Night when She First Gave Birth" ("Mary") – words by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Michael Hamburger; music by Dominic Muldowney

• Sixth Lesson from Luke 2: 1; 3–7 (read by the Chaplain)

• Carol: "Sweet Baby, Sleep! What Ails My Dear?" ("Wither's Rocking Hymn)" – words by George Wither; music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Carol: "What Sweeter Music can We Bring" – words by Robert Herrick; music by John Rutter

• Seventh Lesson from Luke 2: 8–16 (read by the Director of Music)

• Carol: "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" – words, Polish traditional, translated by Edith M.G. Reed; music arranged by Stephen Cleobury
• Hymn: "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" – English traditional; arranged by David V. Willcocks

• Eighth Lesson from the Gospel of Matthew 2: 1–12 (read by a fellow of the College)

• Carol: "Illuminare Jerusalem" – words adapted from the Bannatyne manuscript in John and Winifred MacQueen, A Choice of Scottish Verse, 1470–1570 (1972); music by Judith Weir
• Carol: "Glory, Alleluia to the Christ Child" – words, 17th century; music by A. Bullard

• Ninth Lesson from the Gospel of John 1: 1–14 (read by the Provost of the College)

• Hymn: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" ("Adeste Fideles") – words, 18th-century Latin, translated by Frederick Oakeley; melody by John Francis Wade, arranged by Stephen Cleobury

• Collect and Blessing

• Hymn: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" – words by Charles Wesley and George Whitefield; music by Felix Mendelssohn; descant by Stephen Cleobury

• Organ Voluntaries: "In Dulci Jubilo" (BWV 729) by Johann Sebastian Bach, "Dieu Parmi Nous" by Olivier Messiaen
• Organ Postlude

Commissioned carols and organ postludes

Attendance at the service in person

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held on Christmas Eve at King's College Chapel is open to the general public. The service is very popular, and some people start queuing the night before as demand for seats always exceeds the number available.^[39]

Service at Groton School

The Choir of Groton School, of Groton, Massachusetts, USA, has been presenting a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols since 1928, ten years after the service was introduced at King's.^[4] Groton holds the distinction of having the oldest tenured Lessons and Carols service in the United States.^{[citation needed]} The school's first organist and choirmaster, Twining Lynes, is believed to have heard the service at King's, and shortly thereafter began the tradition with his choir at Groton.^[4] Since its inception, only seven organists have presided over the Groton service. Beginning in 2014, the choir has been conducted by Dan Moriarty. The choir performs the service three times to an overall crowd of over 2,000 people. The first service is open to the residents of Groton, MA and the surrounding towns, the second service is for parents and alumni, and the last service is done for the students and faculty and is broadcast live on Groton's website. The service at Groton consists of an orchestra prelude, and then nine lessons read by students, faculty, and members of the community. Interspersed throughout the lessons are a number of hymns and songs sung by the Choir.^{[citation needed]}

Service at Saint Thomas Church, Hanover

The oldest service in an American parish church is at Saint Thomas in Hanover, New Hampshire, where the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols has been presented annually since 1935. Diane Meredith Belcher has been the Music Director (Organist & Choirmaster) at Saint Thomas since 2014; the children's choir is directed by Sarah Slater.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Anglican church music
• List of carols at the Nine Lessons and Carols, King's College Chapel
• 100 Years of Nine Lessons and Carols

Notes

Further reading

• Cleobury, Stephen (December 1988), "Nine Lessons and Carols at King's: 70 Years On", The Musical Times, 129 (1750), The Musical Times, Vol. 129, No. 1750: 687 & 689, doi:10.2307/966672, JSTOR 966672.
• Barnett, Laura (9 December 2006), "My week: Stephen Cleobury", The Daily Telegraph (Weekend).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nine Lessons and Carols.

• King's College Chapel's webpage about the service
• Detailed order of service for 2009